My Intentional Camino in 2015

I have been eyeing a deal I saw on the internet a few months ago and wondering whether I could use it as a spring board to launch my idea of the perfect Camino: taking my little A-frame camper to the beach and using it as a seaside hermitage, walking along the ocean with God in beauty and splendor by day and sleeping in the comfort of my Poustinia by night...for six weeks or 500 miles, whichever comes first! 

"Snowbird" 30-Day Camping Special 50% off at South Carolina Coastal State Parks

December 1, 2015 through February 28, 2015

Calling all snowbirds! Escape the cold of the North and come spend some extended time camping along the South Carolina coast this winter.

The South Carolina State Park campgrounds at Colleton, Edisto Beach, Givhans Ferry, Hunting Island, Huntington Beach, Myrtle Beach and Sesquicentennial (in Columbia) would like to offer you a 30-day campsite reservation at half price!  

There’s beautiful weather during this time of year in South Carolina and still so much to do on the park and in the nearby area.

To take advantage of this offer, here's what you need to do:

• Call one of the seven parks that you are interested in reserving your campsite, and make your reservation. You cannot make your reservation online or via the toll-free number. 
• Mention you are interested in the 30-day snowbird camping special. 
• Pay for your entire month (30 days) at the time of registration. 
• There are no refunds for early departure.  Arrive and enjoy your stay! 

With ideas of returning to work soon and wondering if I could squeeze a walk across northern Spain in while it is still wintry and cold, I looked at my calendar and saw that the 30 day discount offer window is nearly expired.  

Seeing a month of weekend activities dotting my calendar (things like a new Friday book group, a 2 day retreat with the Women of Grace, Sunday backpacking group outings, and a trip with my mom to Dallas to visit her brother), I had an idea.  How about if I took my camper to a beach less than a four hour's drive away and stayed there during the week while coming home on weekends to keep my appointments and restock before heading out again?

Excited by this idea (and yes, running it by my husband too,) I decided to begin this day by going to church and praying about it while I was there.   Father Staib opened the Mass saying that it was the Feast Day of St. Marianne Cope, a woman canonized in 2012 for her work with the lepers on Moloka'i, Hawai'i.  He said that when our new church in Apex, NC is completed, he would like to have relics of the Saints of Moloka'i enclosed in the altar.

This news thrilled me because I had "met" both of these saints less than 30 days before when I entered a rural church in Kuau'i.   There Sts. Damien and Marianne gazed back at me from their photos on the wall, looking out from eyes weary with work and deep with compassionate love. 

After purchasing a handmade rosary for my Uncle Jim as a remembrance of our time together in Hawai'i, I wanted to know more about her and learned that she was beatified on my birthday (of all days!) in 2005 and then canonized on October 21, 2012.

   

And so I have decided that my Intentional Camino will begin today, in the company of St. Marianne Cope, Patron of Outcasts.   And even as I type this I am enthusiastically mapping out my plan.   

And you know, a pilgrimage is never about just "me and God." So if you feel called to join me for some part of this journey that yes, begins today! then let me know and we'll take this beautiful walk together.